Host ends 13 years without a creative department with double ECD appointment

Ad agency Host is scrapping its unique model of outsourcing its creative department by appointing two executive creative directors.

The 13-year old agency, which has to date farmed out creative work to affiliated production companies such as The Glue Society and The Jamboree, has announced Bob Mackintosh as ECD of the Sydney office and Noah Regan to oversee creative in the fledgling Singapore office.

Both offices are now staffing up creative departments, and will have small teams focused on “creating and curating”, Host founder Anthony Freedman told Mumbrella.

Freedman said that the original model would not be scrapped altogether, and Host will continue to have strong relationships with independent creative partners and an “unconventional creative department” that curates as well as creates.

Bob Mackintosh is the former creative director at The Jamboree, and also spent a year-long stint running Host’s digital creative department. Noah Regan joins from BBH Singapore. He has also had stints at The Monkeys, DDB London and Saatchi & Saatchi Sydney.

Freedman said in a statement: “We have always believed in the power of collaboration to produce interesting creative results and that’s why thirteen years ago, we developed a new way of working. We wanted to have a ‘creative department’ with more people and more diverse talents, including many people who simply wouldn’t accept a full time job in an ad agency.”

He added: “That same belief remains today, but with an agency of more than 100 people in Sydney and a growing international presence, we felt it was time to evolve our model. With Bob and Noah we now have the best of both worlds. Smart creative people at the heart of our business whilst still retaining a modern department that extends outside our building, with a long list of great creative collaborators”.

Host opened a Singapore office in January, with outlets in Shanghai and San Francisco to follow. The agency is part owned by Havas, which acquired a 51 per cent stake in July 2011.